--- title: 'Help wanted: Testing programs that use the notification area' description: We have a list of dozens of Ubuntu programs that use the notification area. What we need now is a description of how each of them use it. […] url: https://canonical.com/blog/help-wanted-notification-area?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Matthew Paul Thomas](https://canonical.com/blog/author/matthew-paul-thomas "More about Matthew Paul Thomas") 30 June 2010 # Help wanted: Testing programs that use the notification area [Design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/design) --- Share the article Two months ago I wrote about how [Ubuntu is phasing out the notification area](http://design.canonical.com/2010/04/notification-area/). An important part of this work is surveying Ubuntu applications that use the notification area, working out what they should do instead, and fixing them. Ubuntu’s own [Kees Cook](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KeesCook) recently ran a couple of massive searches through the source code of the Ubuntu archive, finding the telltale code where a program adds a notification area item. (That’s one of the benefits of most of Ubuntu’s software being open source.) The next step is where we’d like your help. We now have a list of dozens of [programs that use the notification area](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotificationAreaTransition/CompatibilityFixes). What we need now is a description of *how* each of them use it. What does the notification area item do when you click it, if anything? If the item has a menu, what does the menu contain? Are there any Preferences items, menu bar items, or other places referring to the “Notification area” or the “tray”? If so, where are they? Once we know these things, we can make proposals on how to fix them. So if you have a few spare minutes, please choose one of the programs on [the list](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotificationAreaTransition/CompatibilityFixes), install it from Ubuntu Software Center, study how it uses and mentions the notification area, and add your notes to the wiki page. If you know of programs that use the notification area in Ubuntu but aren’t listed, please add them to the page too. Maybe they use a toolkit other than GTK or Qt (so Kees’s searches didn’t find them), or maybe they’re proprietary applications, or maybe they’re just not in the Ubuntu repositories. Either way, we’ll do what we can to get them fixed. Thanks for your help! [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)](https://canonical.com/blog/challenges-designers-face-in-open-source-and-how-to-fix-them) Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core... [Kola Ojoodide](https://canonical.com/blog/author/kola-ojoodide) 26 June 2026 [### Why web engineering is great](https://canonical.com/blog/why-web-engineering-is-great) Hi, I’m Johann! I’m an engineering manager in Canonical’s web team. For the larger part of my 15 years of work experience as engineer, I’ve been working in web development.... [Johann Wolf](https://canonical.com/blog/author/johannwolf) 27 April 2026 [### Canonical’s recipe for High Performance Computing](https://canonical.com/blog/canonicals-recipe-for-high-performance-computing) In essence, High Performance Computing (HPC) is quite simple. Speed and scale. In practice, the concept is quite complex and hard to achieve. It is not dissimilar to what... [Igor Ljubuncic](https://canonical.com/blog/author/igorljubuncic) 24 January 2024 [### Web team – hack week 2023](https://canonical.com/blog/web-team-hack-week-2023) Today, around 96% of software projects utilize open source in some way. The web team here at Canonical is passionate about Open source. We lead with an open-by-default approach... [Anthony Dillon](https://canonical.com/blog/author/ya-bo-ng) 25 October 2023